1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video game controllers and more specifically to a wireless controller with rechargeable battery pack that may be recharged while installed on the wireless controller, or a wireless controller with disposable batteries that may be powered by a power cable if the batteries become depleted.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer video games are well known in the art. Such devices range from small hand held all-in-one units, to larger stand-alone units which interact with stand alone controllers and stand alone video display devices. Small hand held devices are very portable. However, the graphics and sophistication game play are substantially inferior to stand alone units due limited processing power and associated peripherals. For more sophisticated play, stand alone computer units provide tremendous processing power and work with associated peripheral devices, such as a remote controller and television display in an attempt to bring the player a more dramatic gaming experience to that of hand held devices. These devices are widely available on the market and are well know in the art.
A central stand-alone console contains all the essential processing components to run a computer game. A controller is connected to communicate operation control commands from a user. A separate display is connected to the gaming device to display interactive video gaming images. As previously mentioned, this conventional arrangement is well known in the art.
With the tremendous commercial success of stand alone computer gaming systems, and entire peripheral market has emerged ranging from advanced video controllers, joysticks, steering wheel devices for racing games, multi-tap controllers, vibrating controllers, video stands, audio systems and the like. Programmable controllers are also available which allow a user to customize the operation of control buttons and to even store and retrieved such customized arrangements.
As a game is played, a player or players control various visual aspects of the game using either the hard-wired or wireless controllers. All of the controllers require power to operate but power sources can be cumbersome or inefficient, especially for wireless controllers. The need exists for a wireless controller that can accommodate alkaline batteries and/or a rechargeable batteries where the rechargeable batteries can be recharged in an efficient and useful manner.